Monday, August 18, 2014

Cameroon suspends all flights from Nigeria due to Ebola scare

The government of Cameroon has ordered the closure of its borders and the suspension of all flights to and from Nigeria.

This is to avoid the spread of the deadly Ebola disease into the country.

Cameroon has a border boundary of over 2, 000 kilometres in Borno, Adamawa, Taraba and Cross Rivers states in the South-South sub-region of Nigeria.

Speaking yesterday on a special programme of the Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in Maiduguri, the spokesman of Cameroon Foreign Affairs, Chiroumma Boukkari said the decision to shut the borders with Nigeria has become imperative, because of the fear of Ebola that is currently threatening the West African region.

According to him, “This decision on border closure and suspension of all flights to and from Nigeria is to protect the lives of Cameroonian citizens living within and outside from contracting Ebola, as Nigeria, our main trading partner in Africa had been facing since July 20, 2014 when Patrick Sawyer sneaked into the country aboard a flight with the deadly virus.”

He however, noted that the border closure and temporary suspension of flights to and from Nigeria will not last longer than a month.

“The border closures with our main trading partner will be lifted as soon as Nigeria contains the spread of the deadly viral disease. We also urge all border security agencies of the two countries to be vigilant by complying with this border closures made yesterday (Saturday) by the foreign office here in Ngaudore,” said Boukkari.